06.06.2017.
Delegation of the National Guard of Ohio Visiting Serbia
The Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Ljubiša Diković received today a delegation of the National Guard of Ohio in barracks “Banjica 2”. The delegation is led by the Commander, Brigadier General Mark Bartman.
In his press release, General Diković pointed out that the aim of the visit was to analyse the eleven years long cooperation and to consider the areas for the future collaboration.
- The results of the cooperation are visible, and “Humanitarian Assistance” is a good example as well as the joint development of capacities for the training of our and foreign units for the participation in multinational operations, together with the development of the capacities of CBRN Training Centre, and the development and enhancement of military medical cooperation- the Chief of General Staff stated.
Speaking about the future cooperation, General Diković underlined that the both sides expressed their good will to expand the cooperation and instanced the development of the Centre for Advancement and Training of Service Dogs as a good example, and many other activities directed towards improvement of capabilities for counterterrorist fight, aimed at maintaining a safe environment both in the region and world.
- Today, terrorist activities are transferred from battlefields to cities and it is necessary to develop capacities of the forces for urban environment combat so we wish, together with the National Guard of Ohio to develop a training centre for urban environment combat – the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces. Also, General Diković underlined that the presence of the National Guard of Ohio within KFOR was very important for Serbia, since KFOR ensures peace in the territory of the Southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Thanking for the welcome, the Commander of the National Guard of Ohio, Major General Mark Bartman reminded of recently marked 10th anniversary of successful cooperation in Columbus, which gave impetus for the realisation of even more complex tasks, one of them being the joint engagement of medical teams this year in December.
According to programme the Commander of the National Guard of Ohio was to visit the Military Health Department during the day. In continuation of the visit, the delegation from Ohio will visit 98th Air Force Brigade and primary school “Svetozar Marković” in Kraljevo where in 2012, a gym was renovated in the framework of the project “Humanitarian Assistance”. Tomorrow the guests from Ohio are going to visit CBRN Training Centre in Kruševac and cultural and historical monuments of that region as well as Žiča monastery.
